Reflections from EA Global 2024: Insights and Connections to Maximize Social Impact

Between November 1st to 3rd, doebem took part in EA Global 2024 in Boston - USA, an event organized by the Centre for Effective Altruism and members of the global community of the Effective Altruism movement. 

With activities including lectures, workshops, roundtables, and meetings, the event aims to disseminate good research practices and evidence and exchange ideas on the challenge of maximizing social impact and contributing to the solution of urgent problems in society.

In addition to the subjective effects of being at an event with more than 700 people worldwide thinking about generating a positive impact, the event provided an opportunity to expand knowledge and create connections. Luan Paciencia, our Research Director, participated in the event and highlighted content from two lectures that relate directly to doebem's work.

The first, given by Bethany Park and Karla O'Farrill from Innovations for Poverty Action, addressed the challenge of scaling up impact projects in health and development through the dissemination of evidence. The speakers presented a framework with seven aspects that contribute to this.

From the point of view of the project/program, its intervention model must be viable in different contexts, i.e., simplified as much as possible while preserving the central characteristics for achieving the desired impact. It must also be highly cost-effective. This involves having a consistent Theory of Change, supported by robust evidence, and proving to be more cost-effective than alternative solutions. 

As for the implementer, there must be a financing or business model, so sustainable sources must fully cover the costs of scaling up. In addition, there must be conditions in place for implementation, including resources, institutional appetite, and operational capacity to implement and monitor the intervention in the expanded model. In addition, a well-defined strategy on how to scale up the intervention, whether via expansion, replication, or collaboration. 

The ecosystem also needs to be favorable, i.e. the political, social, and economic contexts must be conducive to the scaled implementation of the project. Finally, as could not be otherwise, there is a relevant aspect from the point of view of the purpose of scaling the project: the social problem that justifies this strategy must be well defined.

In addition to this framework, the speakers also shared some challenges on how to help stakeholders make better decisions through the qualified use of robust evidence, which they summarized as translating evidence into impact, a common challenge for the doebem. 

The second keynote address was given by Morgan Fairless from Ambitious Impact. It was on Applied Research, specifically, the presentation of tools and attitudes to make an applied researcher more effective. In her presentation, Morgan addressed the skills, experiences, and behaviors that enhance a researcher's work to produce research focused on concrete decision-making. In terms of skills, knowledge about developing theories of change, carrying out cost-effectiveness analyses, using decision-making tools, and analyzing evidence were highlighted by Morgan. 

As for experiences - about the research topic and the social impact sector - both those that have been lived since they shape our judgments and those that are transferable, which could never be experienced concretely due to contextual factors but which can be accessed through active action by the researcher, were valued. 

Finally, with regard to behaviors, the speaker highlighted proactivity for continuous learning, a focus on producing evidence for decision-making, and a commitment to transparency throughout the research process. On the last point, there were some tips, such as drawing up executive summaries, presenting the reader with the main points of the research, and explaining the degree of confidence in the conclusions generated. 

As doebem is an organization based on research to produce evidence about effective donation opportunities, the lecture had total synergy with our work. It will serve as a tool for the continuous improvement of our research team. On returning home, we are even more inspired to apply what we have learned and continue improving our work. Through exchanging knowledge and collaboration, we can generate even more robust evidence for our donors and thus maximize our impact.